Toulouse Killer Shot 8-Year-old Girl in the Head

The killer of four Jews in Toulouse got off his motor bike to grab an eight-year-old girl and shoot her in the head, an eyewitness said.

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Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, 20/03/12 09:36

Miriam Monsonego

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The killer of four Jews in Toulouse got off his motor bike to grab an eight-year-old girl and shoot her in the head, an eyewitness said.

Miriam Monsonego was the last of his victims after the murderer, described as in his 30s, killed Rabbi Yonatan Sandler and his two sons, Aryeh and Gavriel, outside the Ozar HaTorah Jewish school Monday morning. He was standing with his two sons while waiting for a bus to take the children to a pre-school, the London Telegraph reported.

After killing the Sandlers, the killer got off his bike without removing his helmet and went through the school gate. Children fled, but Miriam was not able to get away from his clutches. First, the killer critically wounded a 17-year-old student and then grabbed Miriam, put a gun to her head and shot her.

He then returned calmly to his motor bike and sped off, leaving behind his victims and a shocked country, where violent anti-Semitism has been far from rare.

Footage from security camera revealed that the killer was calm. “He assassinated them as if he was killing animals," according to Nicola Yardeni, the regional president of the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF, quoted by the Telegraph.

"You see a man park his motorcycle, start to shoot, enter the school grounds and chase children to catch one and shoot a bullet into her head. It's unbearable to watch. He was looking to kill,” Yardeni added.

Miriam was the youngest child of the administrator of the school. “That evil man ran after her and shot her in the head. He has devastated us,” family relatives told the Maariv Hebrew-language newspaper. The father, Yaakov Monsonego, directed the school for 20 years.

One man at the school at the time of the attack said he had greeted Rabbi Sandler moments before the teacher walked towards the school gate. The witness heard shots, turned around and saw Rabbi Sandler on the ground.

French police are in the midst of a massive manhunt for the killer, who is suspected of having shot at three soldiers in two separate incidents last week. The soldiers were from North African descent.

One of the weapons used in the shootings used the same bullets as those in the attack in Toulouse. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, We know that it is the same person and the same weapon that killed the soldiers, the children and the teacher," he said. "This act is odious and cannot remain unpunished."